A bit of depressing reading, something on the measles outbreak, and over in the "amateur president with authoritarian instincts" department...
Of late I've been looking at various small sailboats in the twenty-eight foot and under zone and it has been somewhat enlightening on a couple of levels.
First of all, it's apparent that there are some very nice boats going for what I consider giveaway prices pretty much everywhere. So many, in fact, that it's kept me up nights wondering why. Maybe I'm just a sucker for conundrums...
Looking for clues in the topography of what passes for the sailing/cruising world on one hand makes the picture clearer but, at the same time, tends to confuse. Smaller boats are obviously no longer hip, cool, or even worthy of consideration as a cruising option. The sheer amount of negative pressure about suggests that deciding to cruise on a (let's say a Bristol/Sailstar 26) is a ticket to becoming a social pariah.
The fact that a Bristol 26 is both a capable boat and more than a few have successfully crossed oceans (I know of at least one that has circumnavigated) you'd think the design might just garner some respect rather than disdain. Then again, you most likely can pick up a one for less than $1.5K (I know of one going for $800 at the moment) and in the age of million dollar cruising boats that puts you seriously in cheap seats land.
Some time ago, a reader of this blog, wrote to tell me that I really should not write or promote fixing up older boats for cruising as it was just impossible to cruise on anything less than a $100K boat. He went on to say that anyone cruising on less than $5K a month was going to come to grief of one sort or another.
In our current tRumpian universe it is apparently all-important to show others you have lots and lots of money or, at least- this being a tRumpian universe- to pretend you have lots and lots of money. The fact that appearances are more important than reality being the current bottom line.
The sad part behind the bottomed out resale value of small cruising sailboats is that the main cause seems to be the adoption by the many of the cult of willful ignorance which has deeper repercussions than just the price of boats. Which I'll readily admit is all kinds of depressing.
That said, for someone with an IQ higher than room temperature, there are lots of good deals you can take advantage of.
Listening to Buffy Sainte-Marie
So it goes...
